Our ancestors’ footprints
Near where I live in the eastern Brecon Beacons, a broad, easy path takes you several miles along the shoulder of a remote hill. Peregrine-haunted cliffs tower to the south, while to the north, a vast airy view along the Usk Valley opens up and invites you to admire distant peaks.
While you appreciate the beauty, the peace and your own good fortune, you may not notice the regularly placed stones in the path itself, each with a drilled hole in it. They are not the ancient marks of a forgotten people, but the sleepers of a tramway track that ran through this desolate spot 150 years ago. Horse-drawn wagons on rails. And what of these small ruined buildings, home to sheltering sheep? Limekilns. And these strange grassed-over mounds? Spoil heaps. This was once a centre of industry, a limestone quarry to feed the ironworks of the Welsh valleys. Hundreds, if not thousands, once worked here – a hard, unyielding existence largely forgotten. Until you walk here and learn the history. Then the path becomes imbued with resonance and atmosphere that lingers long in the memory.
Lost lanes and the forgotten lives that created them – from Roman roads to drovers’ tracks – fill our landscapes and we can often only find some connection and understanding of our ancestors through walking in their footsteps. You can find many old ways to tread or cycle this issue (page 68) – plus, meet some of the heroes who are protecting pathways (page 42).